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361MC: Research & Development – Fame & Social Media

Recognition through social media has become a prime example of the way in which our modern day technology has advanced our ways of communicating. Fame through social media is not something that could not have ever been anticipated, with enormous and poignant effect on our younger generations. It has become easier and less complicated to now feature an entire outlook of life on the internet, with so many people choosing to share their lives with the internet. Through this entire idea of fame through social media and a presence beyond, the questions raised regarding it’s true potential of effecting society are raised; are we in a new and advanced socially technological age where anyone is able to have a voice and intellectual opinion? Or are we in a generation of pure fakery, with anyone and everyone jumping at the chance of selling out through social media and it’s opportunities to those who find ‘fame’.

The opportunities through social media has not only grown with every new app that becomes available to the population, but it’s entire scope and messages they send out has become more dynamic and socially conscious of the everyday person. The beginnings of finding fame within the social media spectrum is all but appealing to anyone who belongs to various sites, due to the little effort required and it’s general audience of the entire globe; but with great ease and power comes an enormous challenges of online identities, truth and above all the ability to influence an entire audience. Can this be a good thing, or are we all oblivious to the fact that there are so many people online that are ‘famous’ for generally doing nothing, becoming a group of segregated people who not only use the internet as a scapegoat for their thoughts, beliefs and inner most desires; but also use it in hopes of becoming popular and recognised for doing exactly these things? What’s the reality?

The degenerate way of thinking that the social media lifestyle is the new frontier of living is something other than great, it’s delusional. The culture of celebrity has changed, as social media has grown. The social media way of living offers the chance to live life through virtual reality, you can be and do whatever you want, to gain good fortune of followers, likes and recognition. TV reality shows are also prime examples of heightened ways of using fame for good fortune, the likes of shows such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians or The Only Way Is Essex have all spawned celebrities and now with social media at a peak, now ordinary people can deem their own lives more than a reality and push it into the media sphere. Drawing a distinction between being talented and good at something and then simply being famous for no reason, because it’s the easiest way of living is simply foolish.

Despite all of the negative factors that come with the fame, those who achieve a notable presence have had their lives changed for the better; with most actually using it as their main career choice. Creating networks has never been so easy and for a selected few, it certainly pays off and pays the bills for that matter. In researching more specifically towards YouTube and it’s prime contributors to the social network, It can be seen that there are a growing number of video bloggers who have found their videos to be watched by thousands and some even achieve millions of views. The video sharing website has hundreds of popular video bloggers.

How YouTube works generally has become one of the main reasons that social media is producing fame and fortune. Through millions of viewers and subscribers to a channel, the website offers contributors the chance to become partnered with YouTube through the videos that they set up and create as well as effectively beginning to make money in doing so. Through sites that have 100,000 subscribers and more, YouTube offers money to any video that reaches a particular goal of views. The website basically uses it’s advertising partnerships to make money for themselves as well as their ‘partners’ who generally keep YouTube going. If you have a popular video, you basically get paid for each viewer.

In order to gain a sense of how fame and social media work together, here are some just a couple examples of how people from YouTube have gone on to find fame through their work:

Tyler Oakley – 4,357,350 subscribing viewers: Since becoming notable for his videos on YouTube, Tyler travels the world and speaks at teenage conferences regarding various subjects. He has a successful merchandise online store, has presented on MTV for the past few years and has been working with various charities fundraising for a number of projects.

Shane Dawson – 3,702,289 subscribing viewers: Since finding fame on YouTube, Shane has begun a radio podcast that also has millions of listeners. He has also got a merchandise store that has products that are sold worldwide. He has sold TV show scripts to TV networks and has also starred, written and directed various independent films.

Joey Graceffa – 3,323,606 subscribing viewers: Since YouTube fame, Joey has used it to further his career in film and television. He created a web series ‘storytellers’ that has proved a hit as well as setting up various merchandise opportunities. Joey also has appeared on various US reality shows, most notably The Amazing Race.

Glozell –2,706,276 subscribing viewers: Since YouTube began, Glozell has been there. She has used this YouTube page as her platform for her comedic skills, bringing in new fans for her work. She has used the success as a platform for her fans too, by having annual market production stalls for her entire fan base. Merchandise is also available from her.

Miranda Sings – 1,226,220 subscribng viewers: A growing fan base that has developed slowly through time, people are discovering who Miranda is and what she is about all the time. Miranda (aka Colleen) has travelled and toured the world with her one woman shows. Her sheer volume of character makes the channel. She also acts and has merchandise for sale.

As it can be seen, there are a number of ways in which to turn a successful social media network and have it develop into every aspect of your life. These are just a simple few of the success stories that YouTube has to offer, with so many more still coming into fruition. So many of the success stories however are all from the same sort of background, film and TV. Not only are they all familiar with the YouTube style of living, but they also use it as a way in which to promote themselves in order to gain other job roles. This is something that can be seen as being an opportunist, but also as something that comes along with the role of choosing to be a video blogger. The links signify that there is the possibility of cashing out from fame through social media, but given the chance in this day and age; so many people would if there was no other alternative.

The fact that so many of these success’ also use their fame through social media as an opportunity to make more money is also showing how this business is taken seriously, in order to make money there has to be the platform. Certainly there is room for development in the eyes of those who are beginning, like me in how the YouTube and other social networks will be functioning in the near future. Things need to change and need to be fresh in order t be profitable and desired.

What I take from all of this important research is that there are so many easy ways out of gaining fame out of social media. Through the forms of fakery as well as through the natural and hard working way. I have seen a number of profiles that have had a huge amount of success, social media has the ability to change lives in this modern time. I have also come to the conclusion that through this project, it is important to keep a focus on the overall outcome of the project and what it means to do everything properly and officially. I want my project to be something fun and liberating for not only myself but the people who will choose to tune in and watch, through social media I plan on advertising my videos and the entire project; but in finding fame through this is no goal of choice. It is through persistence of hard work and good content that these success stories happen, but through different angles have these stories been achieved. This project has to stay in tune with the creator and the overall vision of having this channel and the entire social media applications as a platform for Joshua Farmer and my work as a media producer, with some fun being had along the way too.